AYANA Resort Bali — Hotel in Kuta Selatan

We stayed at the Ayana Resort in the Wana Rimba Hotel for 9 nights.||The Wana Rooms swim up rooms are a good size, with a large bed made up of two twin beds. There is good wardrobe space and the bathroom is a good size with bath and shower. The problems with the room however is you can hear everything in the corridors, the rooms above etc this is probably why they provide ear plugs in the room because the rooms are not soundproofed at all. |The pool is nice however we booked this room because of the swim up pool but would actually have preferred to be at the main Ayana Hotel. ||We faced a few issues during our stay. Our check in was not smooth and there were delays, which they did acknowledge and offered us a cocktail at Unique Bar whilst we waited. We noticed during our stay a lot of frustrated guests were waiting for their rooms after check in time.|Once we got our room, there were problems again, we were given a twin room instead of a king which we booked. The duty manager was called and he was apologetic, so took us on a guided tour of the resort whilst we waited for our room again. First impressions of the hotel weren’t great because of the problems and lack of service.|On our 3rd day toilet was leaking flooded the bathroom, maintenance came after we called and they did come promptly and fix the problem.|Order items via the Ayana app like water, towels, toilet paper. They arrive with missing items and have to wait another 15/20minutes. This happened 3 times||We dined at mostly all the restaurants available on site.|Sami sami hostess who showed us to the table was friendly however the service was rushed, food was not good, gave mains without clearing starter dishes and I also had to ask for the starter plates to be removed as the waiter was going to leave them. Another table in front of us mentioned to the waiter that the service was rushed for them too and he just laughed. The waiting service needs to improve here.||Honzen, we had a selection of sushi rolls and the teriyaki beef tenderloin. Sushi was good. The beef was very nice and cooked well. The staff were friendly. Overall the restaurant was good but not amazing.||Unique Bar was nice for Mexican Bites and Cocktails plus Shisha. Staff are friendly and was a nice spot for a casual evening. ||One of the reasons we booked this hotel was because of Rock Bar, however Rock Bar was a major let down. Poor service, food was underwhelming chicken dry and beef skewers tasted off. DJ was terrible, depressing music for a Saturday, not a lively atmosphere, entertainment poor. |Waiters stood around talking and laughing with each other when trying to get their attention. |Didn’t clear starter plates, had to ask. |Had to ask for napkin when starters came none came. Had to ask for another drink no waiter asking. |Really really bad service and the place was empty. ||The Chinese restaurant Lui Li Palace, was extremely quiet, it was just ourselves and one other family at the restaurant. The food however was very nice, the peking duck was lovely. Service very good, attentive and friendly. ||Scusa has a nice atmosphere with live music. Food and service was good.||Kubu Beach Club was nice, small but nice cocktails and the view is lovely. ||We booked a private dinner at the Ayana Gazebo to celebrate an occasion. The food was nice and the service from Wira was amazing. He was very friendly, kind and attentive.||Overall Staff at the restaurants are friendly compared to the tram drivers, reception and pool staff who don’t really acknowledge and are not so friendly. ||At Ayana, they charge for everything. Breakfast was included but if you want anything from a la carte you have to pay. Been to many resorts and hotels and they offer this within the breakfast package. The breakfast buffet is really poor bad quality, badly presented, cheeses, cold meats and fruit are not chilled enough and left sweating. The hot buffet food, was not hot. We were worried about getting food poisoning. We opted to dine at DAVA restaurant many times for breakfast and paid the extra because the breakfast buffet at Rimba and Segara is terrible. DAVA was much nicer and staff are lovely. ||They Charge to use their on site facilities like tennis, pickleball, putting golf, so again never at a large resort would facilities like this be charged for. ||We used the thalassotherapy pool after we were given a voucher to the spa as a gesture from the hotel for all the faults we entailed during our check in. The Thalassotherapy pool was nice and an experience to do once. You have 60 seconds at each section which is very rushed so it’s not really a relaxing experience as you have to keep moving along.||The grounds are well maintained and the resort does look nice to walk around, for example visiting the garden, beach and they have a museum on site. But service, food and the overall experience wasn’t the best, they definitely need to make improvements if they are advertised as 5 star and luxury. ||Looking at their marketing presence and socials the hotel looks great with its pools and number of on site restaurants and bars but the reality is this hotel is far from what expected and the experience is not luxury nor 5 star. There are better more luxurious hotels in Bali which we will explore next time. Unfortunately we would not return or recommend...

The Resort |———————-|I travelled to Bali with my wife for the first time and stayed here for 5 nights. This resort is absolutely amazing the location is very close to the airport (max 20mins). The resort is actually an estate with 3 (maybe even 4) different hotels within its boundaries. We stayed at the original Ayana main hotel as the style of this hotel was more traditional Balinese whereas the other hotels are more modern western type. ||Pools |———-|All guests staying within the Ayana estate can visit any of the hotels and each hotel has many swimming pools and again all guests can use any of the pools within any of the hotels. All together there are 14 different swimming pools to choose but our favourites were the ocean beach pool, river pool and Luna rooftop pool. The main Ayana resort pool was also really nice as it was much bigger than the others and also had great views of the ocean. ||Kubu beach |————————|There is also a private beach called Kubu beach which for all guests is highly recommended. To access it there is a lift that takes you down there and the view as you come down is a sight to be seen. The beach itself is really clean with turquoise water and has plenty of sunbeds. It is great place to come and see the sunset. ||Rock bar |——————|The estate also has the famous rock bar and guests staying have priority to booking though it is recommended to book in advance as it gets booked up quite quickly. Again it is also great place to see the sunset and enjoying a few drinks. ||Restaurants |————————-|The estate has many restaurants to select from and both myself and my wife are vegetarian and so was great to see all had many veg options. The breakfast in morning was buffet style and had plenty of options to choose from so was nice to be able to try something different each time. ||Gym |———|I was really pleased that the estate had 24 hour gym with free range weights going as high as 35kg. I’ve stayed at many hotels and resorts and the gym is usually pretty basic with not much for a proper workout so this was great and the fact it was open 24 hours was a bonus. ||Staff |———|I had heard about the Balinese people and their humility and the kindness and what can I say everyone we met were incredibly helpful and always greeted you with a smile and go over and beyond to make you feel so welcomed. I had noted a few names of the staff that helped us so will take this opportunity to thank them. ||- Susan at reception was the first staff and the last staff that initially checked us in and also gave us an upgrade to an ocean view room and also helped check us in early which was great as we had a long flight so having the room as soon as we arrived was just perfect way to start holiday. ||- Mika and Rin at ocean beach pool were also equally great and made sure all guests had an amazing time.||- Kisra at SAKA museum was very knowledgeable and helped us explain all the key aspects of the Balinese unique culture.||- Sutha at after rock club was amazing with the drinks service and clicked some incredible videos and photos for us.||- Citra at Toge restaurant was very efficient with her service and we had a really nice chat with her during service. She even treated us to a traditional Balinese coffee which was a lovely gesture as I love having coffee usually after meals. ||These are all the names and staff I can recall but as mentioned before all staff at the estate were just as helpful, friendly and professional. It’s a credit to the management team but equally the Balinese people and their culture in general.||Credit card |————————|It was incredibly helpful to be able to pay for all drinks and meals using the same credit card with which I made the original booking for. For all visitors it will be worth noting that the resort will prefer if you use the same card as the one used for main original booking as I guess logistically it makes sense. And so the payment process is much smoother for all if using the same card. The deposit is also taken out of this card and then at the end the same card can be used to settle the account minus any deposit already paid. And so using the same card is highly recommended as then it’s easier to manage finance. ||Overall I cannot speak highly enough of this place and whenever in Bali again will definitely stay here again. I would like to thank all the staff and management for creating almost like a mini Bali within this estate and creating an environment that makes all guests feel so welcome and enjoy...

We had booked this hotel for one night after spending a few days on Gili Meno before our long 30 hour journey back to the UK. We arrived at reception to check in, however, as I didn’t have my credit card on me that I had booked it on, it was an issue. I said I have it on my Apple wallet just not the physical card - but that was not enough. I had to find show proof of a booking email, she then took a photo of my Apple wallet card and I also then had to dig out my credit card statement. What an absolute farce! My passport clearly states my name and that is what I registered on the booking! I was getting so hot and agitated. Doesn’t help that reception, like most of the other places, are all outside! With just a roof and open sides, so on a hot humid day in April this is unbearable standing with a rucksack on, fully clothed 😅. Our room was not ready (understandably though as we arrived at 11am) so took lunch down at the restaurant to the left of the big stairs at reception (forget the name of it). The food was really nice so could not complain there. Once our room was ready we made our way to our room which, whilst clean, was severely dated and tired in some places. As we were only here one night, I just booked the basic room (was £280) for the price of the room I don’t think that this is acceptable. What 5 star hotel has shower curtains these days, old stained ones ( I don’t expect them to replaced for every visit but shower curtains just harbour all sorts!) Should have taken a photo. Only place I could find air con was the room, so that is a bonus!

By the time our room was ready it was time to shower and change as we had a reservation at The Rock bar for sunset drinks so can’t comment on the pools. They looked nice and inviting though.

Being a hotel guest you have a separate queue to access to Rock Bar which is handy. We were given some lounge type bed to sit and enjoy sunset. Service was a bit slow to be honest, worse still I asked for a glass of champagne and they gave me a flat one. I requested for a fresh bottle to be opened, the other one must have been sitting there idle for a while.

We had dinner booked at the Unique Rooftop bar. Don’t bother, nothing unique about it. Sat there waiting for our order to be taken, I had to go up to the bar to check thereafter where our drinks were as about 15mins passed (we only ordered two beers and the place wasn’t busy) when our food arrived it was mediocre flavourless “Mexican” food.

Breakfast was served in one of two locations, we chose the one on the right hand side of the stairs. Again, was outdoors like reception no air con. For a hot humid April I did not find this enjoyable. Also, as there is a buffet style offering, food is left open to the ailments. The jams were attracting flies which settled on them which is not at all hygienic. I would not rate the breakfast in any case, of all the places we have stayed during our trip this was average compared to them. Again, service faltered; had to get up to ask someone for coffees as no one came to our table once we were seated.

Am so glad we only had one night in this hotel/resort, I could not put up with anymore.

It looks amazing on the surface; but scratch beneath and there are issues throughout.

The grounds are lovely though, as is the setting. But I certainly will not...